Holder



Patented Feb. 5, 1946 HOLDER Otto Lobl, Middleboro, Mass., assignor to Hero Mfg. (30., Inc., Middleboro, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 24, 1943, Serial No. 476,957

5 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in holders for pointed articles and more particularly to card type holders having provision for enclosing the pointed ends of the articles and exposing substantial body portions thereof to the view of prospective purchasers. The invention is especially useful for holding knitting needles, knitting pins and the like, singly or in groups, which may be displayed in the holders and be sold therein so that the holders can continue to serve a purchaser as a convenient device from which the needles or other instruments may be withdrawn for use and be reinserted for safe keeping during periods of non-use.

Knitting pins, for instance, are commonly packaged in a group in a paper holder having end flaps which overlie the ends of the pins but which are loose, or become loose, when the holder is opened, or handled, so that the flaps do not retain the pins, which are free to escape endwise from the holder. It is an object of this invention to provide a holder having pin-retaining end flaps held securely in pin-restraining relation by the pins themselves, the flaps, however, being so constructed and arranged that the pins can be paper, and be folded at its end portions to provide retaining enclosures for the pointed ends of the needles or other articles. The strip of paper or the like is provided with end flaps, one of which is perforated to receive one end of a needle therein with the point of the needle resting between the material of the strip and the flap adjacent to the fold line, and the other flap, foldable over upon the needle, having integral laterally swingable tongues permitting their insertion from opposite sides of the strip into underlying relation with an end of the needle. Such a flap and retaining tongue structure is among the objects of the present invention.

Another object of the present invention is to provide holding means at a mid-location along the strip for accommodating different sizes or diameters of needles or other articles. Two parallel transverse slits define a transverse retaining band under which one or more of the articles to be held in the holder may be inserted with the main portions of the articles overlying the body of the strip so that the band holds the articles in tight engagement with the strip. Two shorter parallel slits adjacent to the first mentioned slits define a larger band of shorter lateral extent which may serve similarly for smaller sizes of articles. This selective feature of construction is yet another object of the invention.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a pin-display holder economically made of a strip of paper or equivalent material of suitable resiliency or stifiness but slightly wider than the overall width of the collection of side-by-side disposed needles or equivalent positioned upon a face of the strip and sufficiently longer than the needles to provide material for two end flaps which can be folded over at the ends of the needles to overlie them, and the flaps being so arranged that they can be retained releasably in overlying relation with the pins without the use of side flaps heretofore commonly used for this purpose and the end flaps also preferably being so arranged and constructed as to restrain the end parts of the pins from undue sidewise movement on the strip.

Still another object of the invention is to provide on the laterally swinging tongues of an end flap notches in their side edges facilitating repeated lateral swinging movements of the tongues.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a needle or pin retaining and display strip that is not or need not be much wider than the width of the collection of needles or pins thereon, the strip having foldable needle retaining means located only at the end parts of the strip whereby to conserve strip-material and to expose to view a long extent of needle. Specifically, it is a further object of the invention to provide the strip with but two end flaps, these being small and located at the ends of the strip and being so arranged as to be held releasably in foldedrelation over the needles without the use of any other flaps projecting from the sides of the strip.

Another object of the invention is generally to improve and cheapen the construction of needle and pin retaining display devices.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a holder embodying features of the invention, having four knitting needles mounted therein;

Fig. 2 is a. longitudinal section on line 2--2 of Fig. 1; r

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a blank from which the holder of Fig. 1 is made;

i 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating how the flap tongues are laterally swingable for disengaging them from beneath the needles;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 with both flap tongues released. from the needles and the flap be .mounted in the holder. perforation I6 is a slot having transverse length.

swung to extended position, one needle beingv shown partially extracted from the holder; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a fragment showing a set of needles of smaller size or diameter in the i holder.

Referring to the drawing, a strip ll] of suitable flexible sheet material, preferably paper, is

provided atone end with a flap l2 whichis f.old-

able ona transverse fold line l4 over upon the adjacent material of the strip. The flap is provided with a perforation l6 of size to receive the end of one or more needles or other articles to As illustrated, the

sufiicient for accommodating four needles or pins in side by side relation, the width of the slot of the needles.

At the other end of the strip a flap i8 is toldable over uponthe adjacent strip material on a transverse fold line 20' and has a transverse slit 22 of length approximately equal to the length. of the slot in the end flap I2, which length isthe beingslightly greater than the diameter of one are threaded through the slits 32 so that a band 34 of the strip stock overlies the needles and retains them against the strip It. Conveniently two adjacent parallel slits 36, shorter than the slits 32, provide fora similar retention of smaller needles in the same manner by threading the needles through the slits 36 and under the wider composite band 31 as illustratedinFigr 6.

The holder as herein described provides a con.- venient and practicable device in which knitting needles and the like may be ofiered for'sale, with V substantial portions of the articles exposed for ready view by a prospective customer, and the holders constitute serviceable and convenient means whereby a set of needles may be kept to: gather inthe home during periods of non-use, the holder providing convenient means for opening a flap end for removal and insertion of the V needles at will.

overall width of the collection of needles. A second slit 24 in this flap [8- extends longitudinally and axially from the transverse slit 22 out through the transverse edge of the flap, the two slits defining tongues '26 of the flap stock, which tongues are laterally swingable about fulcrum points at the ends of the transverse slit 22.. Pref.- erably, notches 28- are provided in the tongues at opposite side edges to facilitate the. swingingof the tongues and to provide finger pieces: 38 by which the user may conveniently: grip a tongue to move it into or out of retaining position, as illus trated in Fig. 4.

In'inounting needles or other articles in the holder, the end flap I2 is first folded on fold line it. over upon the adjacent portion of the strip I0 and the ends of the needles or other articles are inserted through the slot Hi in side by side relation so that the pointed ends'o-f the needles rest between the material of the strip and the flap adjacent to the fold line 14-; The ends'ot the slot l6 retainthe needles against lateral displacement,-and the transverse strap [3 of flap material between slot Hi and the. transverse edge oi the flap underlies the needles. and thus holds the flap in its folded-over position. With. the

needles resting on the stripv lll,.the. flap i8 is next folded. on line 2t over upon the adiacent ends of grasped by the fingers .and swung laterally outward until it clears the needles and then is tucked under the needles or inserted between the needles and the strip material. When each tongue is thus inserted to retaining position the ends of the needles and each tongue 26 is separately the lateral slit 22 restrain the needles at this end against lateral. displacement and the pointed ends of the needles rest between the material of the strip and the flap adjacent to-the fold line 20 and hold the tongues 26 in the described position. 7

As thus retainedin the holder, the needles cannot escape endwise when the holder is handled for inspection as the needles themselves hold down the needle-retaining end flaps.

The end flaps alone may be sufficient in some cases forretaining needles or other articles in 1 the holder, but I prefer to provide a retaining band at a mid-location along the strip for secur ing snugly together the mid-portions of the holder and needles. According to the invention, two

. parallel transverse slits 32 have. length suffi'ci'ent to receive the collection. of needles. The

Conservation of material is an important featureof the invention, this being accomplished by employing only a single narrow strip of paper or the like as a hacker for the main extent of the articles to be held, and the relatively small end flaps providing effective means both for holding and protecting the pointed ends of the needles and preventing their endwise escape fromthe holder; r

Although the invention is illustrated in connec-- tion with pointed knitting needles, it should be obvious that the holder is suitable for holding the T slit extending transversely of thefiap' and the leg of the E sliti extending parallel with the longitudinal axis of. the strip, and. anotch in'eachside edge of the flap at each side of the leg of the T slit, the notch at each side; being separately closable to open the T slit, and the flap material defined by the T slit constituting a pair of opposed laterally swingable retaining tongues.

2. A package comprising a strip of flexible sheet material having a socket at one end and a flap at its other end, a stiii linear article on said sheet having one: end inserted in said socket and its other end in position to be engaged by said flap, said flap being laid over. upon saidother end of the article and having retaining tongues laterally swingable in. directions generally parallel with the plane of the strip and inserted from opposite sides of the strip into underlying relation to the article, whereby the article is held on said strip with a mid-portion thereof exposedbetween saidfsocket. and said. flap. 7

3.. A package comprising a strip of flexible sheet material having a perforated flap at one end folded on a. transverse fold line, and; having a second flap at its other endfolded on. attransverse fold line, a stiff linear article on said sheet having one and inserted in the perforation of said perforated flap withits tip between the strip and flap, andhaving. its other'end' in. position to-be engaged by said second flap, said second flap be mg laidover upon said other end of thearticle andhaving transversely opposite tongues of the flap material swingable laterally in directions generally parallel with the plane of the strip and engaged between the article and said strip.

4. A knitting needle package comprising a strip of flexible sheet material having an end flap at each end of the strip, a plurality of knitting needles disposed in side by side relation on the strip longitudinally thereof, one of said flaps being folded over upon the strip and having a transverse slot therein in which end portions of said needles are engaged with the tip ends of the needles between the strip and the folded over flap, and the other said flap having a T-slit therein defining tongues of the flap stock which are laterally swingable in directions generally par- 15 allel with the plane of the strip, the latter said flap being folded over upon the adjacent ends of the needles, and said tongues being engaged from opposite sides between the needles and the strip, and means at a mid-location along the strip retaining the needles against the strip.

5. A knitting needle package as in claim 4 in which the said retaining means at a mid-location along the strip comprises a plurality of transverse bands of strip stock defined by slits of varying length, and said needles extending through a selected pair of said slits with at least one of said transverse bands engaging the sides of said needles remote from the strip.

O'I'I'O LOBL. 

